20 schools get top recognition for performance

Thursday, April 4, 2002

To the editor:

I would like to express my disappointment in the lack of positive coverage allotted to the public schools in Southeast Missouri by your paper. A good example was the lack of coverage of the March 26 banquet to honor 20 school districts for distinction in performance. The only mention in the March 27 Southeast Missourian was a picture of the Jackson superintendent receiving the award for Jackson and the mention of eight other schools. If this had been a negative story about these schools or one of these communities, it would have been on the front page.

The 20 schools that were honored for the high performance of their students by meeting 12 of the 13 academic performance indicators in the Missouri School Improvement Program were Advance, Altenburg, Bernie, Cape Girardeau, Caruthersville, Clearwater, Cooter, Dexter, Doniphan, Farmington, Jackson, Kelso, Leopold, Nell Holcomb, Oak Ridge, Pemiscot County, Richland, Senath-Hornersville, Kelly and Sunrise. These schools and communities deserve the recognition of the largest newspaper in Southeast Missouri.

The media have gone to considerable effort over the last several years to report on the woeful condition of the nation's public schools, and the Southeast Missourian has devoted a great deal of space promoting the charter-school movement and other forms of school choice. It would seem to me that it is only fair and appropriate that you spend at least as much time supporting and recognizing the efforts and successes of the very good public schools we have in this area.